Amusement device.



PATENTED NOV. 27, 1906.

H. N. RIDGWAY.

' AMUSEMENT DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 17. 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 27, 1906.

Application filed November 17,1904. Serial No. 23SI079' To all whom itmay concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT N. RrnGwAY,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Winthrop, in thecounty of Sufiolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an 1111-provement in Amusement Devices, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, likecharacters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of a novel amusementdevice which will give to the occupant the sensation of taking a trip ina balloon or flying-machine.

My device comprises a suspended car having an open end through which theoccupants of the car look outwardly onto a screen on which are portrayedthings to be seen on the propose dtrip of the balloon-such as cities,natural objects, coacting therewith devices whereby the car may betipped that the open or outlook end of the car may sweep up and down orlaterally with relation to the screen, down as when a city or land wasto be viewed and upwardly when supposedly going from one place toanother.

Figure 1 shows my novel amusement device with the car in longitudinalsection, the connections of the suspending-cords with the cylinder beingomitted for clearness of illustration. Fig. 2 is an under side view ofsome of the parts shown in Fig. 1 chiefly to illustrate the cording; andFig. 3, a section the line :1: looking to the left, some of the partsbeing omitted for clearness.

The car A comprises sills a a, sustaining an outer wall a hereinrepresented as curved, as shown, and bottom a a, one end of the bodybeing open and drawn in or contracted, as at the left, Fig. 1, and asshown in Fig. 3, to form an outlook-space b, at the rear of which areseats b for the occupants of the car.

The sills a are connected by timbers c, forming part of a swingingplatform C. The cross-timbers c sustain at their ends sheaves 0, c c andc and the platform or timbers below the car sustain a cylinder D,containing a piston-rod d, having a piston-head (1. (Shown by dottedlines.)

The cylinder at its under side has connected therewith inside its headstwo pipes 0 a, through either of which may be forced water from a pump(1 run by an electric motor (1 the water under pressure entering saidclouds, &c.the car havingascending into the clouds in cylinder at one orthe other side. of said piston-head and moving said piston-rod inone orthe other direction in said cylinder.

The piston-rod is forked'at each end and receives two pulleys or sheavese e f f The car is sustained by four ropes or cables, two of which, g g,are shown in side of the car. These ropes or cables are connected attheir upper ends with suitable strong cross-timbers h h, resting ontimbers connected with suitable uprights h". The rope g surrounds the"sheaves c and e and is connected at 2 to the cylinder near one end. Thesecond I rope g is carried about the sheaves c and f and is attached tothe cylinder at 3. (See Fig. 2.) The other two ropes g g at the oppositeside of the car are passed one about the sheaves 0 and e and connectedwith the cylinder at 4 and the other about the sheaves c and'f andconnected to inder at 5.

let into the cylinder to push the piston-head and piston to the ri ht,Figs. 1 and 2, the sheaves e and e wi be moved and drawing on the ropesg 9 will cause said ropes, acting on the sheaves a, to elevate theoutlook end of the car, so that the occupants ,may look upwardly ontocloud effects portrayed on the screen m, and when moved inthe oppositedirection will cause the ropes g and g to elevate the rear end of thecar and lower the outlook end that passeners may through the outlook endof the car ook downwardly onto a picture displayed at the lower portionof the screen mas, for instance, a city or other natural object-whichmight be visible by lookin over and down from the basket of an or inaryballoon or flying-ship.

The rear end of the car has an electricallyoperated fan n, that willcreate a breeze through the car as if in the air.

The views or pictures will be displayed on the screen, preferably astationary sheet, by suitable stereopticons p, set on the floor of thebuilding containing the device. The stereopticon will be capable ofthrowing onto the screen birds-eye views of any city-as Boston, NewYork, Washington, St. Louis, &c.- and any natural wonders-as NiagaraFalls, the big lakes, &c., Pikes Peak. The skyviews may represent cloudsin various conditions and daylight or moonlight, &c.

During the time that passengers are in the that when water is car thecar may be swung from side to side or Fig. 1, two at each the cyl.

From the foregoing it will be understood IIO be made to sway more orless b a cord 7 connected to the latform and hel by an attendant outsidepended in a dark place and will have one or more electric lights r, thatmay be turned off during asup osed trip, which owingto the motion of t ccar is very realistic and affords much pleasure of a novel order to .IIS

both children and grownpeople. The cords g g'g g 'constitute flexiblesuspensions.

Havingdescribed my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1 In an amusement device of the class described, a suspended car'having'an 0 en end for an outlook, a picture-screen in out of said open end, afixed support for the car, and means attached to a polnt fixedrelatively to the support for tipping said carup and down that its openend may be moved with relation to the screen to present different partsof the screen to the occupants of the car.

2. An amusement device of the class described, comprising aicture-screen, a car havinisides, a top an an 0 en e d for an outlooflexible suspenders or supportin said car from a non-movable'support,and

means acting on said suspenders to tip the car to thereby raise orlowerthe outlook end e car. The ,car will be susof the car that theoccupant of the car may view different parts of the screen.

3. An amusement device comprising a screen, means for throwing variouspictureson different parts .of said screen, a car provided with sides, atop, and an open end directed toward the screen, said car having seatsfor passengers, flexible sus ensions for said car, and means coactingwit said suspensions to tip the car to thereby raise and lower the cmend of the car that theoccupants thereof ay see the different viewsthrown on the screen.

'4. Ina device of thecharacter described, a car having an open end foran outlook, a picture-screen in front of said open end, a fixed support,suspending means for the car con nected at fixed points to said fixedsupport and means for tipping the car up and down

